Before Socrates
Qoheleth, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles and Anaxagoras: what remains when everything flows — vapour, Being, Love and Strife, Mind — and the echo of the river in Marcus Aurelius.
Day 1 of 7
“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”
— Bible, The Holy Bible (King James Version)
Day 2 of 7
“A man's character is his daemon.”
— Heraclitus, The fragments of the work of Heraclitus of Ephesus on nature; translated from th
Day 3 of 7
“One path is: That Being doth be, and Non-Being is not: This is the way of Conviction, for Truth follows hard in her footsteps.”
— Parmenides, The fragments
Day 4 of 7
“Whiles into One do all through Love unite; Whiles too the same are rent through hate of Strife.”
— Empedocles, The fragments;
Day 5 of 7
“Other things include a portion of everything, but mind is infinite and self-powerful and mixed with nothing, but it exists alone itself by itself.”
— Anaxagoras, The fragments (Fairbanks)
Day 6 of 7
“The universe is transformation: life is opinion.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Day 7 of 7
“The Universe is either a confusion ravelled and unravelled again, or else a unity compact of order and forethought.”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus